


a welcomed visit

by Sumi



Series: going through the motions [2]
Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:00:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27069022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/pseuds/Sumi
Summary: Ellie and Riley enjoy a night at the comic book store.
Relationships: Ellie & Riley (The Last of Us), Ellie/Riley (The Last of Us)
Series: going through the motions [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1975618
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11
Collections: Fic In A Box





	a welcomed visit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheseusInTheMaze](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheseusInTheMaze/gifts).



If there was one thing Ellie hated more than infected, it was class. Seriously, screw this school and every single soldier involved with it. They went on about this shit that Ellie couldn’t give less than two fucks about. You could say the same for half of the class.

Ellie rolled her eyes as the speaker droned on. She looked across to the next row, locking eyes with Riley, who appeared bored like her. Perhaps even more so because she’d been in this school way longer than Ellie.

Reluctantly, Ellie’s eyes drifted back to the front of the class. She dozed when a piece of paper landed on her desk. Ellie blinked, slowly shifting her eyes over at Riley who was grinning wildly.

Riley gestured to the paper sitting on Ellie’s desk. She grabbed it, not wasting another second before reading the note.

_Ellie,_

_Can you believe the bullshit coming out of this guy’s mouth? It’s such crap. Like any of us want to fall in line and be good little soldiers! Ugh, what I wouldn’t give to be back in the dorms right now._

Ellie grabbed her pen, trying her best to stifle a laugh. She hated this school too, but Riley seemed to have an even stronger hatred for it.

_Dude, I feel you. Maybe tonight we can sneak out and try to find some more of those comics at the mall? I seriously need the next issue! Fucking cliffhangers were the dumbest thing to get invented._

She quickly handed the note back to Riley, who scribbled a quick message before throwing it back onto Ellie’s desk. The teacher still hadn't noticed a thing much to Ellie's relief.

_Sounds good. It’s ‘date’ then!_

_Also, I think I’m becoming a destructive influence on you. Thank god I stole that Walkman of yours, huh?_

Ellie nearly burst out into laughter. She had to bite down hard on her bottom lip to silence any sounds that might escape.

Once Ellie had gotten control of herself, she shot Riley a look who wiggled her eyebrows and grinned back. All of this went unbeknownst to the teacher. The guy probably was super engrossed in that boring as fuck history book he’d been reading for the past half hour. How he didn’t make himself fall asleep was a mystery.

Nightfall couldn’t come fast enough. When Riley appeared outside her window, she threw the covers off and grabbed her bag already sitting at the foot of the bed. They had done this so many times before that it was practically second nature.

Ellie was outside in a matter of seconds, eager to spend some time with her friend. The last time they snuck out was a little over two weeks ago. Nearly got themselves caught, but the thrill made it more fun. Well, almost.

“So the comic book store first?” Riley asked, ducking down when an army truck down below drove by.

Ellie knelt beside her and gave Riley a look. “Uh hell yeah. Do you not remember me complaining earlier about how cliffhangers fucking suck?”

“If the comic book store is what the lady wants, then it’s what she shall get.”

It took some extra fancy footwork to make it to the mall this time around. There were more soldiers than usual out driving around. Ellie heard some rumors of Fireflies in the area, but she didn’t know how true it was.

A half an hour later they were at the mall. Ellie and Riley hurried to the comic book store, going in through the vent which was the only way they knew how to even get in. The two of them were pros at it by now.

Ellie went back to the same aisle she found the last comic book issue. They didn’t have a lot of time to explore the last time they were here because of the stupid curfew. The last thing Ellie needed was any more demerits on her record… and you say same for Riley.

All Riley had talked about lately was leaving school and do something else. A week ago she floated joining the Fireflies. Ellie jokingly responded she’d go on the run with Riley. It’d be the two of them against the rest of Boston. Riley laughed in response, but there had been something in her eyes; something Ellie couldn’t quite figure out.

She hadn’t brought it up since then. Ellie still thought about it, but wanted nothing to upset their friendship. Riley was the only person who had got close enough to her and stick around. She didn’t want to risk losing that.

“Shit Ellie, I think I found it!” Riley shouted from across the store. “You need to get your skinny white ass over here and tell me if I found the right one or not.”

Ellie grabbed the straps of her bag and made a beeline towards Riley. She eagerly reached for the comic book, hoping it was the next volume she’d been looking for.

“Fuck yeah it is!”

Riley held up her hand. “I think I deserve a high five and for you tell me how fucking awesome I am.”

“You are super fucking awesome. So fucking awesome I could kiss you,” Ellie joked, finally giving Riley a high five after leaving her hanging, but it didn’t even seem to register in her friend’s mind. “Ri, you okay? You seem kinda out of it.”

Riley blinked. “Yeah, I’m good. Just surprised at how great I am. Can you blame me?”

She rolled her eyes. “You are such a fucking loser.”

“An awesome one though, remember?” Riley nudged Ellie with her elbow, laughing when Ellie rolled her eyes again. “Admit it, Ellie. I know you think I’m toadally cool.”

The pun brought out a surge of amusement in Ellie. She laughed, playfully shoving Riley. They had spent hours and hours trading weird, funny puns back and forth with each other. Ellie knew some of them were fucking terrible, but it always seemed to make her and Riley laugh.

“You are a fucking dork,” Ellie muttered.

Riley smirked. “Yeah, but you love me. Admit it.”

“Find me another volume of this comic and then we’ll talk.”

The words drew a playful gasp from Riley. “Ellie Williams, are you fucking blackmailing me? Damn, I have taught you well. Too well.”

“Ri, you have no one to blame but yourself.”

Ellie and Riley spent some more time in the comic book store before heading to a nearby clothes store. They experimented with the clothes, coming up with a contest to see who could find the ugliest piece in the entire store.

The winner was Ellie’s entry. It was a dress covered in polka dots and some kind of colorful sparkly shit. The dust covering the piece of clothing was a huge fucking improvement. Made it less colorful and likely to blind you if you looked at it too long.

“That is seriously fucking ugly,” Riley said, wincing every time her eyes landed on the dress. “Where the hell did you find it?”

“There’s a section over there labelled Juniors. What the hell does that mean?”

Riley shrugged. “Hell if I know, Williams.”

All Ellie could do was give a shrug in response. She turned her focus on Riley, spending another hour hanging out until Ellie realized they had to get back. The last thing she wanted to do was go back to school, but everyone made it clear there was little choice in it for Ellie. This was her last fucking shot.

Ellie was climbing back inside her window about half an hour later. She slowly glanced at Riley, wishing they didn’t have to part for the night. Riley had a similar expression on her face, but neither of them seemed willing to say any of it out loud.

For a second she wondered if either of them would ever say any of the quiet parts out loud.

“So see you during lunch?” Ellie asked with her hands shoved awkwardly into her pockets as she shifted from foot to foot.

She flashed a smile. “Yeah. Can’t wait until we get to have some of that tasty food in the mess hall.”

“If we don’t look at it, then we can pretend its something that doesn’t look like mush…”

The thought of the mess hall found made her stomach churn. Sure, it was the only food they had access to, but it didn’t mean Ellie had to be happy about it.

“Yeah, but Ellie, it tastes like ass,” Riley muttered, looking desperately at Ellie.

Ellie wrinkled her nose. “It does!”

The two shared another laugh before Ellie lifted her hand and bid Riley a quiet goodbye. She shut the window behind Riley, staying there until the other girl was out of sight.


End file.
